12 July 1992

In the first or second year of business, I printed up a limited amount of business card size promotional magnets in full color, thinking that clients could stick them to metal filing cabinets, or refrigerators, anyplace other than stuck in a file folder where it would get lost. These seemed to be popular items, so I went whole hog the next time, printing up larger sized magnets. The printing cost was more expensive, so I did this one in two color. The magnet was designed to fit in a normal sized envelope and would come with a folded card stock brochure (from which the self portrait caricature below was taken).

Well, this was just about the time when computers were starting to be used more frequently in pre-press and design, and I got an angry phone call from one magazine who received my promo package complaining that it sat on his desk in a pile of mail and was in danger of erasing his floppy discs (he didn't say whether or not it actually had caused any loss of data, just that it was thoughtless of me).

Well, it shook me up, and needless to say, I abandoned the 'magnet' promotion from then on out, preferring to err on the side of safety, and not to piss any more potential clients off. It probably should have occurred to me to at least not send them to any 'mac' or 'pc' themed magazines (which is where the angry phone call came from), as they would be the ones most likely to be using computers in their design work at this time. (only three years earlier and I was still doing pasteups the old fashioned way)

At this point, I was still drawing with physical art materials, and shipping finished artwork out via federal express. We had a computer (an early mac, with limited memory and software), but it was mainly used for bookkeeping and word processing duties (I might have started keeping track of my mailing list on the computer around this time). The idea that I would someday do ALL my work in front of a computer wasn't even within the realm of possibility.

about

Tim Foley has been in the Graphic Arts industry since 1979 and has been freelance illustrating since 1989. Clients have included Barrons, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, Consumer Reports, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Penguin Books, Harper Collins, Dover Publications among others. Living and working in Grand Rapids Michigan since the early 80s, he is married and has a son who is a Jazz saxophone player who lives in Chicago. Aside from illustrating, Tim dabbles in music on the side and spends his summer vacations sailing on Lake Michigan.

Tim has been maintaining this blog since around 2007, with the desire to chronicle the ups and downs of his illustration career, and to function as a sort of clearing house for his back catalog of illustrations. Along the way, the previous 17+ years of surviving artwork has been cataloged and chronologically backdated (and more is added as it is unearthed from musty basement flat files).

All imagery on this site copyright Tim Foley Illustration Inc. and may not be reused or reprinted without permission. Most of the work that appears here has appeared in print elsewhere, and many, but not all are available as reprints for your own publications and/or websites. Please contact the illustrator regarding terms, conditions and availability (higher resolution digital files can be provided and sent to your email address).